About the Author

PAUL DICKSON is a consulting editor for Merriam-Webster and the author of more than 45 nonfiction books. He has written for the New York Times, The Nation, Esquire, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post and is the former language correspondent for NPR.  In May of 2006 PBS aired a documentary based on his book The Bonus Army: An American Epic. Dickson is a founding member and former president of Washington Independent Writers and a member of the National Press Club. His most recent titles include The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century and Slang: A Topical Dictionary of Americanisms.